The Economics of the Golf vs Audi A3: A Comparative Analysis

As I embarked on a test drive of both the Volkswagen Golf and the Audi A3, I was struck by the similarities between the two cars. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that there were some notable differences in terms of performance and economy.

One of the key areas where the Golf outperformed its Audi counterpart was in terms of fuel efficiency. With a respectable 39 miles per gallon, the Golf seemed to be doing reasonably well for a car of its size. In contrast, I had managed to get an impressive average of 43 miles per gallon from the Audi A3 with the 1.5-liter engine.

But what really sets the Golf apart is its handling and performance. The car's acceleration was quite nippy, and it seemed to be able to accelerate quickly out of traffic lights. In a surprise twist, I found myself in a drag race against an Audi A3 with a slightly larger engine, and to my surprise, the Golf actually won the race.

However, when it came to rolling starts, both cars seemed to have similar pulling power at 200 Newton meters. The Audi's engine produced more power throughout its rev range, but this was offset by the Golf's ability to flex its engine more easily. As I accelerated from a standstill in third gear, I noticed that the Golf was able to maintain its speed with relative ease.

The Audi A3, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling slightly as it hit its stride. While both cars had similar acceleration rates, the Golf's superior flexibility allowed it to maintain its pace more easily. This made a big difference in terms of performance and overall driving experience.

But what really sets the Golf apart is its value proposition. With a lower starting price point, the Golf offers significant savings over the Audi A3. In fact, I found that the Golf with the 1.5-liter engine was around £1,000 cheaper than its Audi counterpart.

In terms of build quality and ride comfort, both cars seemed to be on par. However, there were some notable differences in terms of suspension and handling. The Golf's basic rear suspension is present in lower-powered models, while the mid- and high-level cars like mine get independent rear suspension.

The Audi A3, on the other hand, has a more comprehensive suite of features regardless of the trim level. This includes better handling and ride comfort, as well as improved noise levels. However, these features come at a price – both in terms of cost and performance.

Ultimately, my choice for this review would be the Volkswagen Golf. While the Audi A3 is certainly a lovely car with a premium brand image, the Golf offers significantly more value proposition in terms of economy, handling, and overall driving experience. If minimizing running costs is your top priority, then the Golf is the clear winner here.

In conclusion, when it comes to choosing between the Golf and the Audi A3, there are some key differences that you need to consider. While both cars have their strengths and weaknesses, the Golf's superior handling and performance make it a compelling choice for drivers who value economy and agility above all else.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe Volkswagen Golf for many people it's the goatee family hatchback because it does pretty much everything very well but what about the Audi a3 because after all od is owned by Volkswagen so they show many of the same mechanical parts and engines are these two then which should you choose first no a quick disclaimer this a3 is actually the three-door because well that was all that was available to me at the time of filming however you should buy the 5-door Sportback version of the a3 instead and with sizable card discounts you can get the 5-door version of the Audi a3 1 litre sport for around 21,000 pounds while the 5-door golf se nav 1.5 litre petrol is just over 20,000 pounds so it's a no brainer right just get the golf well not necessarily because brand image counts for a lot the Volkswagen badge is considered as reasonably desirable amongst the mass car makers it's not quite a prestige badge so you could call it mass teach there's plenty of Audi a3 s about to but those four rings deliver added sophistication there is no disputing that OD is a premium brand and to some people that is important when they're making their choice at which car to buy so the VW's badge may not have quite the same kudos but at least everyone knows exactly what it is if you just mean to someone who knew nothing about cars showed them this asked them what he was they would know it's a Volkswagen Golf because it's one of the most recognizable cars in the world ever the golf may have iconic looks but it isn't very exciting the a3 just looks that little bit sharper small family hatchbacks aren't the most beautiful looking cars in the world but this audi a3 does look quite smart now personally I normally like the look of three door hats practice rather than 5-door ones but bizarrely in the case of this Audi this 3 door doesn't look as good as the five-door sport back if you ask me so an extra pair of doors make it look better and improve practicality to the problem with a three door version of a car is that it's a bit of a pain for your passengers to clamber into the back one sit here in the back of this a3 it's all right in terms of size look sitting up straight just about going of head room and knee rooms fine though I do find it a little bit claustrophobic because this back window is quite small and of course you can't wind it down that's why I really first buy one of these cars I would spend the extra thing at the five-door version I'd go for the 5-door version of the golf as well and this one goes to show just what a difference an extra pair of doors make steady easy to get into the back of the 5-door version of the golf Headroom yeah good knee room good you are good tall good there's plenty of space up front and the driver's seat and steering will have loads of adjustment but then so do the Audi's however what about the golf's interior design interior quality in the Volkswagen Golf is pretty nice and everything's well laid out however it's more premium economy than business class and saying here you do know there's some people there enjoying a little bit more luxury in more top-flight hatchbacks the design as well it's it's functional easy to use but just a little bit dull I do like this though is part of a midlife facelift they've improved the infotainment touchscreen and this is the big version that you can get with it it's nice and bright easy to use quite slick and yeah there's all that you need it to do and you can also get the car with digital drivers dials now that's a 500 pound option and it's it's fairly nice the only thing is that well you can scroll through different views you can't drastically change the size the dials so you can't have widescreen navigation which is a bit of a shame and that brings us onto one area where the golf is slightly better one thing od definitely does well is car interiors and the a3 has the best interior of any small car it's been around a while now but it's still right at the top of the game so the quote and the - it's really squid - the design is sporty it's neatly laid out all the dials feel expensive got a nice tactile touch to them even the armrest and the doors just squidgy er than another car so when you're driving along lies just more comfortable and remember you spend your time inside the car not on the outside so it's important you like the look of it and there's the tech so like I said the car is getting on a bit now and this is a bit old-fashioned having a pop-out infotainment screen because you're always going to have that up little e in that position on top of the dash it is in your direct eyeline now this one has upgraded system which is around 1400 pounds and then it's an extra 450 pounds for the digital drivers display known as virtual cockpit and it's lovely this thing is I think this is one of the best digital dial systems out there at the moment and ID was first with it as well so you can go and control all your major functions like that and then expand the view as well so you've got little dials but huge wide screen sat-nav display going back to the main infotainment system I do think it started to look it's aged on this particular screen here you can have Google Maps which does help things but the graphics are now just a little bit low res but generally the inside of this car is absolutely exceptional and the build quality but it all just feels so sturdy so very expensive but it can all start to get rather too expensive if you start adding options to the Audi you see you need to pay extra for this particular upgraded infotainment screen if you want a system that's a match for the one you get to standard in the golf even then the Audi's one has a slightly smaller screen though the swivel wheel control system does make it easier to operate while driving than the golf's touchscreen method however when it comes to practicality there is little between the two cars you see the sport back version of the a3 has the same 300 Natalie to boot capacity as the golf five-door so when it comes to carrying stuff it's a dead heat between the two and both have decent in-car storage and a5 fitting a child seat so really there's not much in it but will that change when you hit the road yes I do three is a perfect example of how a family hatchback should drive because it does all the basics so well so the steering's direct it's not too heavy it's not too like the gear shift is smooth the brakes are sharp but not grabby visibility is generally good it's reasonably quiet when you're going at speed and it's comfy over bumps yet when you chuck it into a corner it doesn't feel like it's going to topple over it's like I say it does all the basics well it's a great thing to drive so you'd be more than happy with this too the engine in it the 1 liter well when you rev it because it's only got 3 cylinders it can feel a bit vibey seeking for the vibrations of the engine it's a bit raucous as well terms of the economy well I'm getting 39 miles per gallon which is alright it's alright and the general performance from it it's pretty nippy pretty nippy but would you be better off with that 1.5 liter engine he gets in the Gulf which remember you get even though the car is around a thousand pounds cheaper than the Audi after Carlile savings well to find out I'm going to have a drag race obviously now imagine you're at the traffic lights and you want to get ahead of other cars acceleration is important so we're going to find out what happens if I was to try and beat that golf off the line to get to the supermarket first so yeah I've got 116 horsepower he's got 130 so normally more power equals quicker acceleration we're going to find out the difference it actually makes in the real world oh we had a bit of stock but then I did a better job of managing the power but there we go there's the 130 horsepower happening right there yeah by golf definitely won the away from the Lites race oh and it looks like he'll be getting all the better discounts at the supermarket so that's what an extra 10 horsepower gets you in a traffic light Grand Prix but how does that play out from a rolling start now both is IOD and the golf have the same amount of pulling power at 200 Newton metres it's just at the golf it produces that pulling power its maximum throughout more of its Rev rate it's a bit more flexible the engine I'm gonna try to illustrate that now by being in third gear cruising at 50 miles an hour I'm gonna do a countdown three two one go and throw the thralls and see what happens komm may just itch ahead so here we go three two one go actually it's a similar pulling power but that golf like I said is just edging ahead it's just a little bit more flexing when it seems to be going now as its superior power kicks in and takes over but from the get-go there's not much in it it's very similar but then that's cause extra power takes over so if you do a lot of motorway work and need to overtake in a more relaxed manner you'll find that bigger engine just a bit easier to live with in fact the golf is pretty easy to live with in general now the first thing you need to know when you're buying a golf is that if you get one of the lowest powered versions they actually get basic rear suspension the mid to high level cars such as this one actually gets independent rear suspension and they ride over bugs a little bit better on the audi a3 you get independent rear suspension regardless of the age and you go for and because these cars there's a golfer and the out of pretty much the same underneath the skin yeah from behind the wheel they can feel very similar to drive in terms of the noise levels in terms of the comfort in terms of how easy they are to drive and their handling there's nothing between them to choose really the only choice is down to the engine now you can get the 1 litre engine in the golf if you want and you can get more powerful petrol engine in the Audi but if you're talking about this 1.5 in this golf you do notice that it's smoother to drive than the 1 liter unit in the Audi that's because with three cylinders that's a bit rougher than this which is four so it's equal number so it's better balanced so when you rev it out it doesn't make quite such a racket it's smoother it's nicer and it feels a little bit more another thing about going for the bigger engine is that it actually can improve your fuel economy because even though it's actually ready 258 miles per gallon whereas the 1 liter is supposed to do 60 because you don't have to work it so hard to go quickly the excuse less fuel that's why I'm actually averaging 43 miles per going out of this car which is better than what I got from the Audi and if minimizing your running costs matters most and consider this by this golf and the 5-door version of the Audi a3 on a three-year PCP finance deal with a 3,000 pound deposit through car Wow and the golf will cost you 40 pounds less per month in repayments that's almost 1500 pounds over the three year term and that brings me to my final verdict well the Audi it's a lovely little car and it's got the right brand image but the Volkswagen Golf is a fabulous all-rounder and you just get that a little bit more from it and that's why it'd be my choice you enjoyed this video please like it and share it and click on our logo to subscribe to our channel also click on the video windows for more car way videosthe Volkswagen Golf for many people it's the goatee family hatchback because it does pretty much everything very well but what about the Audi a3 because after all od is owned by Volkswagen so they show many of the same mechanical parts and engines are these two then which should you choose first no a quick disclaimer this a3 is actually the three-door because well that was all that was available to me at the time of filming however you should buy the 5-door Sportback version of the a3 instead and with sizable card discounts you can get the 5-door version of the Audi a3 1 litre sport for around 21,000 pounds while the 5-door golf se nav 1.5 litre petrol is just over 20,000 pounds so it's a no brainer right just get the golf well not necessarily because brand image counts for a lot the Volkswagen badge is considered as reasonably desirable amongst the mass car makers it's not quite a prestige badge so you could call it mass teach there's plenty of Audi a3 s about to but those four rings deliver added sophistication there is no disputing that OD is a premium brand and to some people that is important when they're making their choice at which car to buy so the VW's badge may not have quite the same kudos but at least everyone knows exactly what it is if you just mean to someone who knew nothing about cars showed them this asked them what he was they would know it's a Volkswagen Golf because it's one of the most recognizable cars in the world ever the golf may have iconic looks but it isn't very exciting the a3 just looks that little bit sharper small family hatchbacks aren't the most beautiful looking cars in the world but this audi a3 does look quite smart now personally I normally like the look of three door hats practice rather than 5-door ones but bizarrely in the case of this Audi this 3 door doesn't look as good as the five-door sport back if you ask me so an extra pair of doors make it look better and improve practicality to the problem with a three door version of a car is that it's a bit of a pain for your passengers to clamber into the back one sit here in the back of this a3 it's all right in terms of size look sitting up straight just about going of head room and knee rooms fine though I do find it a little bit claustrophobic because this back window is quite small and of course you can't wind it down that's why I really first buy one of these cars I would spend the extra thing at the five-door version I'd go for the 5-door version of the golf as well and this one goes to show just what a difference an extra pair of doors make steady easy to get into the back of the 5-door version of the golf Headroom yeah good knee room good you are good tall good there's plenty of space up front and the driver's seat and steering will have loads of adjustment but then so do the Audi's however what about the golf's interior design interior quality in the Volkswagen Golf is pretty nice and everything's well laid out however it's more premium economy than business class and saying here you do know there's some people there enjoying a little bit more luxury in more top-flight hatchbacks the design as well it's it's functional easy to use but just a little bit dull I do like this though is part of a midlife facelift they've improved the infotainment touchscreen and this is the big version that you can get with it it's nice and bright easy to use quite slick and yeah there's all that you need it to do and you can also get the car with digital drivers dials now that's a 500 pound option and it's it's fairly nice the only thing is that well you can scroll through different views you can't drastically change the size the dials so you can't have widescreen navigation which is a bit of a shame and that brings us onto one area where the golf is slightly better one thing od definitely does well is car interiors and the a3 has the best interior of any small car it's been around a while now but it's still right at the top of the game so the quote and the - it's really squid - the design is sporty it's neatly laid out all the dials feel expensive got a nice tactile touch to them even the armrest and the doors just squidgy er than another car so when you're driving along lies just more comfortable and remember you spend your time inside the car not on the outside so it's important you like the look of it and there's the tech so like I said the car is getting on a bit now and this is a bit old-fashioned having a pop-out infotainment screen because you're always going to have that up little e in that position on top of the dash it is in your direct eyeline now this one has upgraded system which is around 1400 pounds and then it's an extra 450 pounds for the digital drivers display known as virtual cockpit and it's lovely this thing is I think this is one of the best digital dial systems out there at the moment and ID was first with it as well so you can go and control all your major functions like that and then expand the view as well so you've got little dials but huge wide screen sat-nav display going back to the main infotainment system I do think it started to look it's aged on this particular screen here you can have Google Maps which does help things but the graphics are now just a little bit low res but generally the inside of this car is absolutely exceptional and the build quality but it all just feels so sturdy so very expensive but it can all start to get rather too expensive if you start adding options to the Audi you see you need to pay extra for this particular upgraded infotainment screen if you want a system that's a match for the one you get to standard in the golf even then the Audi's one has a slightly smaller screen though the swivel wheel control system does make it easier to operate while driving than the golf's touchscreen method however when it comes to practicality there is little between the two cars you see the sport back version of the a3 has the same 300 Natalie to boot capacity as the golf five-door so when it comes to carrying stuff it's a dead heat between the two and both have decent in-car storage and a5 fitting a child seat so really there's not much in it but will that change when you hit the road yes I do three is a perfect example of how a family hatchback should drive because it does all the basics so well so the steering's direct it's not too heavy it's not too like the gear shift is smooth the brakes are sharp but not grabby visibility is generally good it's reasonably quiet when you're going at speed and it's comfy over bumps yet when you chuck it into a corner it doesn't feel like it's going to topple over it's like I say it does all the basics well it's a great thing to drive so you'd be more than happy with this too the engine in it the 1 liter well when you rev it because it's only got 3 cylinders it can feel a bit vibey seeking for the vibrations of the engine it's a bit raucous as well terms of the economy well I'm getting 39 miles per gallon which is alright it's alright and the general performance from it it's pretty nippy pretty nippy but would you be better off with that 1.5 liter engine he gets in the Gulf which remember you get even though the car is around a thousand pounds cheaper than the Audi after Carlile savings well to find out I'm going to have a drag race obviously now imagine you're at the traffic lights and you want to get ahead of other cars acceleration is important so we're going to find out what happens if I was to try and beat that golf off the line to get to the supermarket first so yeah I've got 116 horsepower he's got 130 so normally more power equals quicker acceleration we're going to find out the difference it actually makes in the real world oh we had a bit of stock but then I did a better job of managing the power but there we go there's the 130 horsepower happening right there yeah by golf definitely won the away from the Lites race oh and it looks like he'll be getting all the better discounts at the supermarket so that's what an extra 10 horsepower gets you in a traffic light Grand Prix but how does that play out from a rolling start now both is IOD and the golf have the same amount of pulling power at 200 Newton metres it's just at the golf it produces that pulling power its maximum throughout more of its Rev rate it's a bit more flexible the engine I'm gonna try to illustrate that now by being in third gear cruising at 50 miles an hour I'm gonna do a countdown three two one go and throw the thralls and see what happens komm may just itch ahead so here we go three two one go actually it's a similar pulling power but that golf like I said is just edging ahead it's just a little bit more flexing when it seems to be going now as its superior power kicks in and takes over but from the get-go there's not much in it it's very similar but then that's cause extra power takes over so if you do a lot of motorway work and need to overtake in a more relaxed manner you'll find that bigger engine just a bit easier to live with in fact the golf is pretty easy to live with in general now the first thing you need to know when you're buying a golf is that if you get one of the lowest powered versions they actually get basic rear suspension the mid to high level cars such as this one actually gets independent rear suspension and they ride over bugs a little bit better on the audi a3 you get independent rear suspension regardless of the age and you go for and because these cars there's a golfer and the out of pretty much the same underneath the skin yeah from behind the wheel they can feel very similar to drive in terms of the noise levels in terms of the comfort in terms of how easy they are to drive and their handling there's nothing between them to choose really the only choice is down to the engine now you can get the 1 litre engine in the golf if you want and you can get more powerful petrol engine in the Audi but if you're talking about this 1.5 in this golf you do notice that it's smoother to drive than the 1 liter unit in the Audi that's because with three cylinders that's a bit rougher than this which is four so it's equal number so it's better balanced so when you rev it out it doesn't make quite such a racket it's smoother it's nicer and it feels a little bit more another thing about going for the bigger engine is that it actually can improve your fuel economy because even though it's actually ready 258 miles per gallon whereas the 1 liter is supposed to do 60 because you don't have to work it so hard to go quickly the excuse less fuel that's why I'm actually averaging 43 miles per going out of this car which is better than what I got from the Audi and if minimizing your running costs matters most and consider this by this golf and the 5-door version of the Audi a3 on a three-year PCP finance deal with a 3,000 pound deposit through car Wow and the golf will cost you 40 pounds less per month in repayments that's almost 1500 pounds over the three year term and that brings me to my final verdict well the Audi it's a lovely little car and it's got the right brand image but the Volkswagen Golf is a fabulous all-rounder and you just get that a little bit more from it and that's why it'd be my choice you enjoyed this video please like it and share it and click on our logo to subscribe to our channel also click on the video windows for more car way videos\n"